Mississippi – June 28, 2019

16 JULY | AUGUST 2019

LETTERS

please send your

ideas and opinions to

Letters to the Editor

5 Lakeland Circle,

Jackson, MS 39216

or via email to

[email protected].

Letters may be edited for

length and clarity.

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MAY | JUNE 2019 $5.

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MODERN STYLE

See more photos of Nancy and

Owen Mayfields’ renovated

Fondren home.

What a delight to open the latest issue

of Mississippi Magazine  and find our

“she shed” featured! We are so thank-

ful to have found our country sanctu-

ary and are thrilled to share a small

part of it with your readers. We were

especially honored to pay homage to

the vision and hard work of the origi-

nal owners of Magnolia Pines, Mrs.

Lara Fulcher and the late Mr. John

Fulcher. The tornado in 2014 taught

us that any place can serve as one’s

home, as long as that place is filled

with family, friends, and laughter. We

are privileged to have a home that we

enjoy sharing with others. Thank you

again.  

Mr. & Mrs. Speedy (Jamie Adcock)

Calvert

Louisville

I had a wonderful time at The Mercan-

tile show. I was able to window shop

200 stores in one day! Thank you!

Ann Finnison Pittman

Jackson

Thank you so very much for all you

have done. I cannot express fully

how much it meant to see my story

as the On Being Southern essay in

print in the May/June 2019 issue. I’ve

dreamed about this for so long. You

have truly blessed me. I hope you

have a wonderfully blessed year.

Sung ja Collins

Fulton

This was my third year to attend The

Mercantile show hosted by Mississip-

pi Magazine. It gets bigger and better

each year yet maintains its relaxing

atmosphere.  Congratulations on an-

other successful show!

Peggy Hampton

Jackson

MAY | JUNE 2019^135

M

HERITAGE & CULTUREOn Being Southern

watermelon the

As a child growing up in St. Louis, we patch

had beautiful, snow-filled winters. But as soon as school was over in June, my mother would pack up the Country Squire station wagon and drive -

my sister and me back to Mississippi to spend our entire summer vacation. Because of his job, my father was always left at home to fend for him--

self, except for a short stint around July 4th. closer to our destination, the exciteAs the miles passed and we came -

ment of seeing family and being home in Mississippi was almost too much to contain. The first night of our arrival, I almost always had to stay at -

my Mama Swann’s house. But, you can bet that the very next day, I was on my way to my Aunt Pauline and Uncle J.B.’s house to spend most of the sum-

mer with my cousins. Even though Kay was the oldest, I spent most of my time with her—that is, until she started dating boys. Kim was my age,

and the two of us became closer as we grew older.We could sleep as late as we wanted Every morning started the same.

as long as we got all of the assigned chores done before my aunt and uncle

returned home from work. Aunt Pauline always left chocolate grav y on the stove to warm up and homemade biscuits in the oven to brown. Then -

we might watch a little television. Little being the operative word since we could only get three channels on a good day. After lunch, there might

be a little basketball at the old hoop in the side yard, or lying out in the sun to get a suntan—or in my sister and Kim’s case, sunburn. There were

clothes from the line to be folded and supper to cook, which had to be sitting on the table when my aunt and uncle got home. -

til my aunt and uncle’s vacation time started, and they were both off for a week. They never went any where, The routine remained like this un-

it just meant they could spend more time in the garden, and that meant we had to spend some time there ourselves. If we were not in the garden, -

we were shelling whatever had been picked that morning. I liked being in the garden more than shelling peas or butterbeans!-

in the garden were when my uncle would My favorite times

let us pick a couple of watermelons to eat.

We would thump on them and study them until we found just the right one. Then he would take out his knife and cut it open right there in the middle

of the field. If it was extremely ripe, it would make a cracking noise as it practically burst open with sweet, red goodness. We would sit on the ground

around the watermelon sharing the knife. We would cut pieces of the warm, sweet-tasting melon, spitting the seeds on the ground or at each

other. We would spend a great deal of time eating because we knew that as soon as we finished, we would be back to work. Looking around, one

could see the juices running down our faces and the red streaks running from our hands and down our arms as we finished up the last of the re-

freshing goodness right down to the rind. Afterward, we always felt a little better about the job at hand. I loved spending my summers in

that tiny community of Hurricane in rural Pontotoc. There was always a feeling of being home. Even now, when I travel through that part of the

state from my home in Fulton, I still get a restful, contented feeling. No matter how long I live in Mississippi, no other place has given me that spe-

cial feeling of love and belonging.

writer SUNGJA COLLINS illustrator SAM BEIBERS